


Can't rewind

by kaige68



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Community: 1_million_words, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-15 23:13:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1322815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaige68/pseuds/kaige68
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After 7 years with the Enterprise, Chekov needs to move on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't rewind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sharpiesgal (TigerLily)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigerLily/gifts).



> Written for the Weekend Challenge at [](http://1-million-words.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://1-million-words.livejournal.com/)**1_million_words** , prompt was Paolo Nutini's _Rewind_. I got the image in my head of Chekov watching vids in my head (not the spirit of the song at all), and then this thousand words of irreparable angst happened, beware. This is not beta read.

_Why can't we just rewind?_   
_Why can't we just rewind?_   
_Why can't we just rewind?_

 

Chekov was an odd duck. He’d heard that phrase once, and even though it was not meant as a compliment, it felt so very fitting. In so many ways it felt fitting to him. He’d explained it to Leonard one time, and since then the man took the time to ruffle his hair and repeat the phrase whenever Chekov said something that reaffirmed the likeness. Now, to Chekov, it felt fitting and an endearment. He liked being an odd duck.

He enjoyed the fact that he was adept at every job on the Enterprise. He was not qualified for everything, he could not become Chief Medical Officer, but he was more than adept at first aid and had assisted in emergency surgeries. And while he could not speak fluently in every language known to the universe, he could understand most. Captain Kirk had let him use his insatiable need to learn throughout the ship over the last seven years, and there was almost no task on board the Enterprise that he could not cover for a shift when needed.

Chekov would be a StarFleet Captain one day. As he promised his mother on her deathbed. And he was proud of that. The problem was that in order to do that he needed to be promoted. He needed to be a Chief in a department, to move from that to First Officer, from there to Captain. The problem was that in order to be promoted, he would need to leave the Enterprise. Need to leave the family he had gained in space. Need to leave Len.

As fact based and science driven as Chekov could be, he was also a romantic, and a dreamer. He was up hours early, well before his last shift on the bridge was to begin, watching videos on his PADD. Watching his friends, his family, in moments of great triumph and moments of personal joy.

Most people didn’t give the ship’s computer a thought unless they were trying to hide something, but the fact was that where there was a computer terminal on the ship, there was a recording of the people within it’s view. With his unrestricted security access, Chekov had copied and saved a great many moments. Moments of greatness for many.

He watched the Captain fight off two Klingons, barely winning, but smiling the whole time. He watched Uhura propose marriage to Spock. Chekov watched Kirk marry them three minutes later and ask if they could get back to outrunning the Romulans again.

His finger hovered over the display as he watched the first time that McCoy held his hand as they walked to dinner. It had been their fourth date, but it was the first public display that Leonard had given in to. He watched himself react to that touch, and felt the same eager surprise flutter inside him as he had when it happened. Moving his finger he rewound the scene.

The door to his quarters opened and Chekov could feel McCoy’s presence without looking up. The Doctor took the vid away and then smiled wistfully at Pavel when he recognized the scene. Placing the PADD on a table he sat on the bed next to Chekov and pulled him into his arms.

“What am I going to do without my odd duck?” The words were soft and spoken into his shoulder.

If Leonard asked him to stay, they both knew that Chekov would stay. And if Pavel asked Len to ask him, Leonard would ask. Neither of them spoke.

“The ship managed after Sulu left, you will get on without me.”

“I’m a doctor, not The Enterprise… I will miss you.” The gruff voice choked to a stop.

“You will grouse at Captain Kirk,” Pavel’s arms held onto the ones that were wrapped around him. “He will whine back at you. The Commander will talk down to you both, and it will be as it should. And I will miss you.”

“We could kill off the Vulcan?” McCoy joked.

Chekov smiled, “How well did that work for the MacBeths?” He sighed at the rumble of laughter behind him and sank back into the man he loved. “We will see each other as often as we can. We will message each other constantly. We might see each other more than we have in this past year.”

“My room won’t smell like a handsome young officer.”

“It had better not!”

McCoy tightened his hold.

Eventually the Captain would become an admiral, but with Kirk’s talent for pissing off StarFleet it would take some time. Spock had no desire to rise to his own captaincy, it was assumed that when he left the ship, eventually, probably when Kirk did, that he would follow his father’s footsteps and become an ambassador. Most of the Chiefs on board felt that they had reached the pinnacle of their careers, they didn’t want ships of their own, they fully enjoyed their positions on StarFleet’s flagship.

And Chekov had enjoyed himself as he worked his way up, learned all the things that he could. But waiting for someone to die or retire was not what he wanted. As much as he never wanted to leave his friends, to leave the love of his life, he wanted a command of his own. And like Sulu before him, he would have to leave the relative comfort of the Enterprise to do it.

“One more shift, and then we’ll be home.” McCoy was being stoic. Chekov had overheard the man speaking to the Captain after Pavel had made clear his decision to seek a promotion beyond the Enterprise. _”No, I won’t be going with him Jim! What kind of respect is he going to get as an officer if he has to take his boyfriend with him wherever he goes?_ Those word had made Pavel feel so very loved and respected, and solidified his resolve.

“I must report in two weeks-”

“Then we’ll have two weeks to ourselves.” Lips traced along Chekov’s neck. “Well, us and Jim, and Spock, and Uhura, and Scotty and-”

Pavel twisted in McCoy’s arms. He pushed the man back onto the bed. They had another hour before he had to report to the bridge, and if he was a little bit late, the Captain would only smile.


End file.
